Chapter 42: As if I owed a debt of love
Suzuki Sonoko squatted in front of the car, looked at Kurosaki Ichigo who was lying at his feet, covered in bandages and bleeding, then turned her head to look at her car which had braked suddenly and stopped on the side with its headlights flashing. Finally, she frowned and looked around at the surrounding street lights.
She sighed as if she was very tired.
Kurosaki Ichigo raised his hand with difficulty and plucked her drooping fingers, and said weakly: "There's no need to do this, I'm not dead yet."
Sonoko took advantage of the situation and grabbed his wrist, patting the beautiful boy's wheat-colored hand exhaustedly.
"I can see you're doing okay, but..."
Suzuki Sonoko couldn't help but glance at the traffic camera on the diagonal corner again, thinking that with this angle and this picture - it looked like it was probably another traffic accident or hit-and-run, and it actually happened to capture their family's license plate number!
"...Did he really not choose this place on purpose to throw you out?"
However, except for Miss Suzuki, who grew up in a society ruled by law and had witnessed the intelligence level of the big boss Mimasaka Rei, the rest of the guys from the supernormal department had no idea what was wrong with her decline.
There was silence for less than a few minutes, and the frightened driver was ready to call an ambulance.
Suzuki Sonoko comforted him for a long time with earnest words, and patted her chest to guarantee that nothing would happen to him.
The uncle knew that the Suzuki family was very rich. When he saw Yato carrying Ichigo and putting him into the car, he felt something was wrong: this boy was just a hit-and-run, and he would accept a fine, but their second young lady... why did they act like they wanted to destroy the body?
Although he had many thoughts in mind, the conscientious driver still started the car and drove towards Karakura Town in the east according to the direction given by Sonoko (actually Kisuke Urahara).
After the baffle was closed, the interior of the car became a closed space. Except for the sound made by Kisuke Urahara, who seemed to be sitting on one side and fiddling with the car refrigerator, there was only a depressing silence in the car.
The injuries on Ichigo Kurosaki's body have been mostly healed, but the pain still remains.
In his mind, he recalled what the two Death Gods said when they took Rukia away, and then he recalled his desire to save Rukia. Although he looked worried and sick, he was still worried about a matter of life and death.
——With his silent expression and the shadows of lights passing by outside the window, this should have been a very profound scene.
However, every few minutes, Yato, who was sitting next to him, would stretch out two fingers and poke his shoulder as if he had ADHD. If he was glared at, he would just stop for a while, but in the end he couldn't help but poke.
The veins on Kurosaki Ichigo's forehead were throbbing: "Can you be serious?"
Yato retracted his fingers guiltily, but couldn't help laughing: "I'm sorry, I can't control myself. Your current condition is too amazing, how can I describe it..."
He couldn't help but poke Ichigo on the shoulder again: "I always feel like my artifact... has an extra scabbard that's not easy to remove."
Ichigo's mouth twitched, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Don't force me to kill my master..."
Yato was even more surprised now: "You actually admitted that I am the master? Wow, you are so reckless, you must be planning something big!"
He was startled and startled, and then as if he was afraid of being infected by some virus, he shrank back as hard as he could, waving his hands as he did so, his whole body filled with the air of a petty person who deserved a beating.
Although Ichigo was mentally prepared and tried to put himself in the identity of the artifact, he couldn't help but feel embarrassed when he saw his horrible appearance. He didn't even want to put on a deep expression. He tilted his head in the opposite direction of Yato and leaned on the shoulder of Suzuki Sonoko next to him.
Miss Suzuki was sitting stiffly in the same place. Feeling the force coming from the side, she quickly raised her hands and held the back of his head steadily.
Kurosaki Ichigo still had an injury on his shoulder, and the bandage was so tight that he couldn't turn his neck at all. In this awkward position, he asked across the air, "What are you doing?"
Yuanzi lifted the back of his head and curled her lips: "You've been lying on the ground for so long, your head is covered with dust and sand..."
Ichigo had another small cross on his forehead: "If you dislike me again, I'll bite you!"
Sonoko hummed and rolled her eyes. When she turned around, she saw Urahara Kisuke still staring at her with that meaningful look. She suddenly felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.
Thinking back to when he had said something inexplicably about how he had known about her for a long time, she couldn't help but turn her face away. She unconsciously lifted up Ichigo Kurosaki's head with her hands, trying to divert his attention by picking out a few of his white hairs.
The more she tried to ignore it, the more awkward it became. Suzuki Sonoko didn't even dare to count how many times she had glanced at that guy out of the corner of her eyes. One time, she even accidentally met Urahara Kisuke's eyes!
She almost jumped up from her seat like a cat whose tail was bitten.
Oh my god, I'm so embarrassed...
After a short while of slumping, Ichigo Kurosaki raised his arm with difficulty and pinched her face. As Suzuki Sonoko looked back at him blankly, he sternly warned her: "If you pull my hair again, I will bite you."
Suzuki Sonoko relaxed her grip in disappointment, letting Ichigo lie flat on her shoulder. She glanced suggestively at Ichigo's bandaged limbs, thinking, without mobility, even if you still have teeth to use as weapons, you won't be able to bite me if I run, right?
However, before he could finish rolling his eyes, a low laugh came from the other side.
Yuanzi laughed so hard that his ears felt numb.
Urahara Kisuke waved his hand casually and said, "Don't be nervous, Suzuki-san, I don't mean any harm to you."
The intuitive Miss Sonoko lowered her head and continued to fiddle with Ichigo Kurosaki's short hair, secretly rolling her eyes: You really don't have any ill intentions, but your eyes are full of resentment!
——If she hadn’t met him before, Sonoko would have suspected that she had played with his feelings before!
They arrived at their destination in such an uneasy manner. Suzuki Sonoko sent their driver away with repeated assurances, and followed the lazy Urahara Kisuke into his shop which was out of sight of ordinary people.
The weight of Ichigo Kurosaki was easy for Yato who was carrying him, but the god seemed to be still struggling with the strange feeling of the scabbard as if it was glued together with super glue. Sonoko always felt that after he took two steps, he subconsciously wanted to lift Ichigo Kurosaki off his shoulders so that he could swing him in the air.
As soon as he entered the store, the strange feeling of spatial distortion disappeared. Urahara Kisuke took off his hat and hung it on the rack, then sat cross-legged on the ground, apparently wanting to give a speech.
But Yuanzi always felt that his eyes, which were covered by his bangs, seemed to be still looking at her...
It's really awkward to be stared at like that.
Sonoko tried hard to concentrate for a long time, but still felt itchy all over her body. On the contrary, Urahara Kisuke seemed to be completely distracted and had already talked a long list of things in a very eloquent manner. When she was finally able to join the conversation, the three of them had already decided on the next plan.
Ichigo Kurosaki decided to accept training from Manager Urahara again and regain his ability as a Shinigami.
Sonoko was confused: "I thought you were going to let Yato take you to fight..."
Yato scratched his ear and yawned. "Divine weapons also have strengths and weaknesses. Aside from the most special sacred weapons for gods, the stronger the soul, the stronger the divine weapon. And the stronger the divine weapon, the more it can help gods unleash their full power."
He leaned sideways, resting the back of his head on Sonoko's knees, and gestured to her with his five fingers: "If the original Hei Yin was the most outstanding one, with excellent quality in all aspects, the current Hei Yin-chan is more like a work of art."
"Even though your appearance hasn't changed, you can't be used as a weapon at all," Yato rubbed his hair against her legs, staring at Ichigo with a very indescribable expression: "You know, in my opinion, you look like you've been rusted from head to toe. Even your appearance has been reduced."
The handicraft Hei Yinjiang immediately got furious, and without even looking at it, she picked up the cup in front of her and threw it at his legs.
Yato rolled nimbly to avoid it.
However, Yuanzi couldn't help but feel even more confused.
"Since Yato doesn't need to take you with him, does this matter still have anything to do with us?"
Without the divine weapon, Yato has no fighting power. Even if he goes to the Soul Society, whenever he is needed to fight, he will need Ichigo to be his sword.
But if Kurosaki Ichigo regained the power of the god of death, when he turned into a sword, although his side would have one more Yato, they would also lose him - the combat effectiveness would basically not change!
So she cautiously asked Kurosaki Ichigo: "Then... can we go home and take a shower and go to bed?"
Before he finished speaking, Urahara Kisuke found a paper fan from somewhere and knocked it on the table in front of Sonoko with a bang. The sound made her jump with fear. Sonoko couldn't help but shrink her neck, feeling that this person seemed to want to knock her head more than knocking the table.
Urahara Kisuke seemed oblivious and explained with a smile, "Although this sudden change in Ichigo-kun was unexpected, it might be a good thing."
Sonoko was too timid to look at him, and just stared at Kurosaki Ichigo: "Really?"
"Yes," Manager Urahara replied with a smile, "First of all, our mobility is guaranteed. The defense of the Seireitei is very strong. I didn't think we could rescue Rukia. We are all alone and weak. Once we enter Soul Society, we will be easily divided and defeated one by one."
"But it seems that this problem doesn't exist with Yato-sama and Ichigo-kun."
Yuanzi understood.
"You mean to use the restored Kurone-chan as bait to draw the attention of all the Shinigami to him, and then our Yato will sneak to the place where Miss Rukia is imprisoned, rescue her, and then directly summon the Divine Artifact, turning one into two, and bring her out directly?"
The depressed blond uncle supported his chin and nodded.
Suzuki Sonoko also thought this was a good idea, but...
She turned to look at Yato, "Do you want to go?"
Yato blinked at her in confusion, "Why shouldn't I go?"
"I am the Lord God!"
Yato nodded in Kurosaki Ichigo's direction and said, "A sacred artifact holding a grudge will hurt its master, but I can't free him now. If I don't find a way to resolve the problem of my own sacred artifact, I'm afraid that sooner or later I will be stabbed to death by this rebellious son!"
"Who is your son?"
"That's the relationship between gods and sacred artifacts. A certain nymphomaniac has a bunch of beautiful boys and girls calling her 'Onee-sama,'" Yato said, spreading his hands nonchalantly. "Even if I give in and let you call me 'Brother-sama,' can you still say that?"
Ichigo took a deep breath, trying to suppress the urge to strangle him.
"Look," Yato rolled back onto the tatami like a boneless man. "You must be thinking about some outrageous things in your mind. As the lord of the gods, at least let me take advantage of you verbally..."
"Alright, alright," Urahara Kisuke said lazily, his voice low and hoarse like an adult man, clapping his hands soothingly. "I've learned from Lord Yato that even if a divine weapon is damaged, it can still be used as a weapon."
Urahara patted the orange-haired boy's shoulder and nodded as if watching a fun event: "This means that Ichigo-kun can fight to his heart's content until the very end. As long as he is still conscious, even if he is so exhausted that he can't even move a finger, he can still be transformed into a weapon and let Yato-sama continue to fight in his place."
"So," the profiteer said excitedly, closing his fan with a smile, "although it's still the same unit's combat effectiveness, its service life has suddenly been extended by more than double!"
Suzuki Sonoko couldn't bear to look at his expression.
She looked into Ichigo Kurosaki's eyes seriously and advised him earnestly: "If you can't fight anymore in the future, you might as well just knock yourself out..."
Ichigo shook his head. "Isn't it necessary to go to this extent to rescue Rukia from the Soul Society?"
=====
That night, Yato and Sonoko stayed in Urahara's shop. He was very excited and wanted to touch everything he saw.
When Ichigo officially started training, Yato seemed to have found the joy of life. When he had nothing to do, he would go to the basement to play with the children.
Only Suzuki Sonoko felt that something was wrong.
Early that morning, Sonoko still opened her eyes amid Yato's exaggerated ridicule, and then started to eat breakfast amid Kurosaki Ichigo's angry shouting. When the sun was at its highest point and the class in the basement was about to end, Miss Suzuki, who had been in a daze all morning, seriously found the manager of Urahara Store and tentatively pulled his sleeve.
Urahara Kisuke was sitting at the counter using a calculator to evade taxes, but when she grabbed him, he suddenly stopped in his tracks. Scattered papers and a large computer fell to the ground with a clatter, and even Sonoko was startled by the noise.
She looked at her white and soft fingers and couldn't help falling into deep thought: Did she really use so much strength?
The store manager narrowed his eyes carelessly, then smiled and interrupted: "Ah, ah, how careless! Suzuki-san scared me."
The hairs on the back of Yuanzi's neck stood up again involuntarily. She felt that at a certain moment just now, the person in front of her suddenly became very scary.
"that……"
She suppressed the inexplicable illusion and chose her words carefully: "I just want to ask, Kurone-chan said he was going to Soul Society, so he was training here with you. Yato was also preparing here to help him, but I——"
The self-aware Ms. Suzuki Sonoko clapped her hands and said, "I have no fighting spirit and no adventurous spirit. I've been researching for several days, but apart from paying for your takeout, I don't think I can help you much."
There was no such thing as a sense of loyalty like "my friend is in trouble, so I must be there for him." Sonoko thought that since the other two guys were busy with important things, she might as well go home and continue researching blind dates. It would be even better if she could find clues about the great god of fortune who stamped her in the mythology, so that she could find a way to get him to help Zero turn back into a human.
"From what I hear," the man tapped his palms and feigned ignorance, "Suzuki-san, do you want to leave them alone?"
Yuanzi always felt something was wrong when she heard this. What she meant was that he should work during the day and go home at night. She didn't say that she would completely ignore him, right?
Apart from anything else, Yato's current mobile banking account is bound to her secondary card - don't these people pay for their meals through her every day?
Before she could subconsciously start calculating which takeouts she had ordered in the past few days, the unexpected warm touch instantly brought her back to her senses.
Sonoko blinked subconsciously, and her well-maintained eyelashes with a curved arc brushed across the man's fingertips like a small fan. Suzuki Sonoko's eyes flashed, and the middle-aged profiteer in the fisherman's hat returned to the posture of crossing his legs and settling accounts, as if the pair of army-green eyes she saw a few seconds ago was just an illusion.
She swallowed subconsciously and wanted to run even more.
Urahara Kisuke yawned, fanning himself with a fan he'd pulled out from nowhere, and said in a tone that seemed both deceptive and believable: "Suzuki-san, how could you not be of help? The reason I want you here is because you're essential for the crucial work ahead~"
Suzuki Sonoko calmed down for a moment and asked him tentatively, "What's the matter?"
Urahara Kisuke solemnly put away his fan, then covered his mouth with the air of someone sharing a shocking secret, and whispered, "Do you know why I mentioned Suzuki-san's fame as soon as we met?"
Sonoko shook her head defenselessly.
Urahara Kisuke's fingers tightened around the fan handle, and he resisted the urge to pat her head. He continued, "Because of the boss of Scepter 4. He seems to be showing special favoritism to the Suzuki family."
It took Suzuki Sonoko a long time to sort out her thoughts: the person in charge = Reiji Munakata.
"Yes, I do know him," Miss Suzuki replied seriously, "He almost married into our family."
"So," Urahara Kisuke couldn't help but tap her forehead with the handle of his fan at the word "marry." Under Suzuki Sonoko's aggrieved glare, he smiled guiltlessly and changed the subject: "I'm an exile, and Ichigo-kun is an illegal Shinigami agent purged from Soul Society. We're currently researching how to openly and honestly rescue prisoners from the Seireitei."
"But to go to Soul Society, we first need to build a gate."
"If you're caught illegally crossing the border gate privately, you'll be severely punished," he said, patting the back of her hand casually and shaking it, saying exaggeratedly, "But now the arrow is on the string and must be released. For the next seven or eight days, Suzuki-san is my golden ticket to immortality~"
Suzuki Sonoko didn't notice anything wrong with his expression at all, and started to think about it based on his reasoning.
Five minutes later, Miss Suzuki, still feeling unreliable, shook her head and refused: "If I do as you say, why do I feel like I'm threatening Munakata with myself?"
"Let's not discuss whether he will fall for this."
Yuanzi frowned unhappily. "If they get caught and have to pay a fine, I can pay for you. If they get caught and have to be locked up, I can use my connections to get you out."
"You can pay any amount of money or make any compensation, but I'm only responsible for the aftermath, not for giving you a free pass."
She muttered, "Besides, it might not even work..."
Kisuke Urahara's eyes were hidden in the shadow of his hat. Seeing her chattering there, he couldn't help but want to smile bitterly.
——When you are reluctant to let someone suffer for you, no matter what the nature of the relationship is, it means that you truly care about this person in your heart.
With this interruption, Sonoko, who had never broken the law since childhood, clearly realized for the first time: although they were in another dimension, the guardian deity and guardian artifacts of their family in the basement were preparing to go against a legitimate government (Soul Society, Seireitei), and the person they wanted to save was a criminal who was about to be executed (Ms. Rukia Kuchiki)!
"I'm actually breaking the law..."
Although she may have been just an accomplice, this realization clearly refreshed Ms. Suzuki's outlook on life.
Fortunately, she only paid attention to this point, and Urahara Kisuke's reason, which seemed like a joke, was naturally put behind her.
——The look in his eyes doesn’t look like the look an illegal merchant gets when he sees the family of a law enforcer.
After another day spent at home in a daze, Ichigo Kurosaki, who was covered in injuries, met two classmates who were ready to help him with great courage.
At that time, four people at a table were discussing the training plan.
Kisuke Urahara has been researching the divine body recently, claiming that if successful, it would allow people to quickly learn Bankai. While Yato gulped down a glass of wine, he imagined 360 ways to use his skills to beat up children.
There was a bruise on the corner of the little boy Kurosaki Ichigo's mouth. He held the bowl weakly and could only scrape at it. He had to rely on Yuan to pick up the vegetables and put them in his bowl.
He mainly used a spoon to scrape the rice, so he could eat it even if his hands were shaking. Sonoko was shocked by the way he ate with such a scrambled mouth, and he couldn't control his hands to pick up the food. When Ichigo angrily threw the bowl down and was about to go to the evening class (mainly to get beaten by Yato), Sonoko realized belatedly that she had actually watched him eat the whole time with the bowl in her hand.
There was only a mess of cups and plates in front of him. In fact, Yato, who was quite afraid of loneliness, had been playing like crazy recently. Sonoko sighed and decided to order takeout again.
However, the moment she put down her chopsticks, she discovered that there was a full plate next to her that she had not noticed!
After the shells of the crystal clear shrimp were peeled off, the heads and tails were also pinched off, leaving only the thick meat in the middle. The spinach had only the tips of the leaves removed and the stems removed. Even the roast duck from takeout was cut into thin strips of meat by chopsticks, and then carefully formed into finger-thick duck strips. Finally, each strip of duck meat was wrapped with a piece of crispy duck skin covered with grease.
To be honest, apart from the Suzuki family's own chef who cooks like this, the last person who noticed that Sonoko liked to mix the duck meat in the right proportions and arrange it in the right shape before eating was her fifth fiancé, Mr. Feng Jingye, who worked diligently during the probation period.
Miss Sonoko, who had been in a daze the entire meal, began to reminisce: to her right sat Ichigo Kurosaki, across from her sat Yato, and at the same table were the deputy manager, Tessai Mamoru, and a few children who worked as store employees, but they had all finished their meals early and left early...
Kudo Shinichi once held a detective novel and said in a pretentious manner: The so-called reasoning is not affected by vision or hearing, and even the evidence may be forged, but as long as you follow the thread of events and eliminate all impossible possibilities - even if the result left at the end is totally unbelievable, it must be the truth!
Suzuki Sonoko blinked at the plate of food with a serious expression, excluded everyone she noticed at the table, and finally came to a horrified conclusion.
This thing should have been made by the hat shop manager whose face cannot be seen.
——But how could he know?
When Inoue Orihime and Chatari Yasutora walked in, they saw a young lady holding a bowl of rice and staring at the food in a daze.
The author has something to say: I almost forgot that I only update 6,000 words a day now. This is not the time to update 10,000 words on a whim, so let’s go to Soul Society in the next chapter!
This development is actually a very common routine...
It's past 11 o'clock today, and I've decided to give up the plan of updating at a fixed time. I use the detailed outline to expand the update content every day. It's okay during holidays. If I need to go out, it will be even later if I come back late. However, I can guarantee an update every 24 hours. I'm very sorry for the trouble I've caused to everyone. [Bow
Finally, as usual, please leave a message. Good night everyone.
(づ￣ 3￣)づ
I corrected the typos. If you find any more, please leave a message to let me know.
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